Filed under: Fan Stuff

Pata-pata-what? Man tattoos Patapons on self

by Majed Athab { 10 months ago }

Gamer tattoos are not that much of a new thing, but we like highlighting some of the more unique and amusing kinds of gaming-related skin art. This piece in particular portrays the rhythmically-obsessed Patapons marching off to war. Fan Masatomo Ueda had this tat etched upon his arm and chest, and judging by the expression on his face he seems really freaked out by the little dudes and their spear carrying ways. Oh uh, Masa, just make sure you steer clear from drum beats or else those Patapons will do you in.

[Via Kotaku]

PSP Game of the Year, as chosen by other media outlets

by Andrew Yoon { 10 months ago }

While the PSP library was rather small this year, it still had a number of high quality gems (all released in the first half of 2008). The diversity of PSP's library is reflected in the diversity of critic's choices for their PSP Game of the Year. We chose God of War, but other outlets had differing ideas.

GamePro chose Patapon as handheld GOTY. "This hasn't been the best year for portable systems, but there were a few bright spots. The PSP, surprisingly, garnered 75 percent of the vote."
GameTrailers chose God of War: Chains of Olympus. "It has it all. And it has it on the go."
GameSpot chose Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. "The ending is also one of the most emotional moments in gaming, and the ability to achieve this level of storytelling on the PSP is an incredible feat. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is not only one of the best games on the PSP, but it's one of the best role-playing games we've seen in a long time."
GameSpy chose God of War: Chains of Olympus. "Ready at Dawn's graceful touch makes Chains of Olympus feel like a real handheld experience rather than a PS2 game with a smaller screen and longer load times."
IGN chose Patapon. "It's just pure, simple, unadulterated fun, and it's fun that quickly spirals into outright addiction as more commands and unit types are unlocked throughout the course of the game."

PS Fanboy Best of 2008 Awards

by Joystiq Staff { 10 months ago }

PSP may not have had a lot of games this year, but it certainly had a lot of great games. But only ONE can be PSP Game of the Year. What is it? Well, find out here.

Stylish CLOT x PSP jacket will show everyone your gaming allegiance

by Alan Tsang { 11 months ago }

Are you a true PSP fanboy? The jacket shown above is probably one of the more stylish ways to express everyone your portable gaming allegiance. In a collaboration with SCEH, Hong Kong-based hip-hop clothing label CLOT has produced a very limited number of these CLOT x PSP M65 military-style jackets for sale -- each of them is priced at $4000 HKD (about $516 USD). Each jacket features the standard CLOT logos, as well as two PlayStation logos and one PSP logo. Here comes the bad news though: even if you had $516 for one of these babies, you won't able to get your hands on one -- a representative at the CLOT told us they are sold out.

Another way to obtain them was to have attended the annual Asia Game Show that took place during November 19th to the 22nd in Hong Kong. By spending $3000 HKD (about $387 USD), you get a chance to enter a random drawing for one of these jackets. More pictures of the jacket can be seen here.

Source -- Sony Computer Entertainment Asia
Source -- High Snobiety via kanYe West: Blog -- thanks, ryegagnon!

Check out FF Agito XIII's concept art, world map

by Joystiq Staff { 11 months ago }

There is a bit of new info on Final Fantasy Agito XIII today. It's just a spot, really. In the pages of the yet released Cloud Message magazine, lays this image of the Agito team's drawing board. In it you can spot a world map, some vehicular concept art and a Chocobo. Yep, Chocobos are going to be in this one. There's also an odd collection of symbols pictured in the lower right-hand corner. What could those things be? Perhaps you'd want to take a closer look and find out? To do that, see larger-sized images here.

[Via Final Fantasy-XIII.net]

PlayStation Awards 2008: The PSP games

by Majed Athab { 11 months ago }

The results are in, and the annual 2008 PlayStation Awards out of Japan is now a wrap. The handing out of awards commemorates successful titles over the past year. It highlight the best of the best and honors titles that have sold more than 500,000 units with a Gold Award, and those which sold over a million with a Platinum Award.

Both Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Phantasy Star Portable have earned for themselves a Gold Award; however, the true star this year is Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. It has earned for itself a double-Platinum Award for being the only title (not only from PSP, but out of the entire PlayStation family) to sell more than two million copies in Japan this year. Congratulations to all the games that have won recognition.

[via press release]

MTV: Crisis Core is 'The whole world in your pocket'

by Majed Athab { 11 months ago }

According to MTV Germany's 2008 Game Awards show, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII is this year's best handheld title (AKA, "The Whole World in Your Pocket" Award). The Square Enix game that prequels the popular PSOne title, Final Fantasy VII, beat out other franchise software such as God of War: Chains of Olympus, and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Guitar Hero: On Tour.

It even had beaten Patapon to a pulp -- which was an all new, original title that came out this year. Overall, Crisis Core overcame some tough odds beating out strong competition. Congrats go out to you Crisis Core.

Nippon Ichi goes all out with the swag for Prinny launch

by Majed Athab { 11 months ago }

Nippon Ichi is really going all out for the launch of Prinny: Can I really be the Hero?. Purchasers in Japan can get free Etna/Prinny pins (pictured) if they buy the game anytime between the November 20 launch and January 11, 2009. But that's not all, the company is looking to really cash-in with adorable Prinny plushies and a PSP traveling case.

There are three Prinny plushies; the red muffler Prinny and Lahar-like Prinny both go for ¥1,890 ($19.54) each, but the pink Prinny is going for ¥2,980 ($30.81). The traveling case is blue with an embossed Prinny on the cover; fetch one for ¥1,785 ($18.40). Check out the pics at Famitsu. Hopefully all these goodies will make their way over here, or else ... we'll have to publish a story called North American Gamers: Can we really have all the swag Japan gets? Don't make us do it.

Continue reading “Nippon Ichi goes all out with the swag for Prinny launch”

Play LocoRoco 2's official flash mini-game

by Majed Athab { 11 months ago }

Want to play LocoRoco 2? Sure, us too, but you'll have to wait -- oh, hold on, what's this? You can play an official LocoRoco 2 flash game right now? That's good to hear as North Americans won't be getting a second helping of the cutesy blobs any time soon. However, you better start playing now because it will be gone come this November 21. Why, you might ask? Because the game hits Europe on that day. Those lucky blob-lovers.

[Via Eurogamer]

VGA 08: God of War, Patapon nominated for Best Handheld Game

by Joystiq Staff { 11 months ago }

Spike TV's 2008 Video Game Awards will be kicking off next month and the nominees and categories have all been set in place. Both PSP-exclusive titles God of War: Chains of Olympus and Patapon have been nominated for Best Handheld Game. Unfortunately, that's all these two have been nominated for. There can only be one winner and it's going to be a tough call between these two -- oh, yes, and the other nominees, of course. The PS3, on the other hand, has a huge amount of nominations -- so check out what's happening on PS3 Fanboy.

Beyonce needs PSP on her flight

by Andrew Yoon { 12 months ago }

Divas are known for their demanding attitude, and Beyonce just proved that she's a diva. According to celeb gossip column Now, organizers have admitted some difficulty in flying Beyonce to an awards ceremony in Monaco, where she won Best International Female. Not only did she want a newer plane, but she demanded video games. "Staff were told to give her whatever she wanted - including an Xbox, PSP, Jacuzzi and a pizza."

Honestly, if she's getting a jet to herself, a few extras like a PSP and a pizza don't sound like a very big deal. Too bad we "blogger types" don't get that kind of treatment when we fly Economy Class (certainly a step up from cargo!).

[Via /gamer]

Win a signed copy of Neverland Card Battles

by Andrew Yoon { 1 year ago }

Click for high-resolution image.

Yep. It's another SRPG on the PSP, coming at you tomorrow. To celebrate the release of Neverland Card Battles, Yukes is going to give two PSP Fanboy readers a chance to get a copy of the game, signed by Lead Producer Yoshiteru Sato (founding member of Idea Factory, head of Compile Heart). To win you must:

Leave a comment with the name of one other Dominator in the game, other than Galahad and Egma. To find out the answer, you can visit the Neverland Card Battles official website here.
You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
Limit 1 entry per person.
This entry period ends at 7:00pm ET on Thursday, October 30th. We'll randomly select two winners with the correct answer to receive Neverland Card Battles, valued at $40. Please check your e-mail!
For a list of complete rules, click here.

We talk about PSP-3000 in Play Magazine

by Andrew Yoon { 1 year ago }

Did you read Play issue #171? If you did, you would've noticed a certain someone from a certain PSP fan blog talking about the recently released PSP-3000 (aka PSP Brite). The blogger in question talks about whether or not Sony upgraded the PSP system too quickly, and why the lack of a second analog stick is no big deal. "A lot of people [said] that Sony should 'fix' the PSP by adding a second analogue stick," says Yoon. "But that would fundamentally change the system, and potentially lock out owners of older models from upcoming games. As it stands, PSP owners, from the 1000 to the 3000 series, are all able to play upcoming games."

To download the featured article, click here (requires Acrobat Reader).

Do you want Galaxy's End?

by Andrew Yoon { 1 year ago }

Remember Galaxy's End? The PSP-exclusive RTS game from Tiki Games was never finished, but the advent of the PSP-direct PlayStation Store has created an opportunity for the developers to continue work and release it to the masses. "When we started Galaxy's End we absolutely needed a publisher at some point - not just for the financial aspect but to get it into stores. Now that the PLAYSTATION Store has been added for the PSP we have the opportunity to finish the game and release it as a digital download (like NOVASTRIKE)."

But, there's still a year's worth of work left for the team before they can prepare the RTS for release. And, there's the question of money. "Quite frankly we don't have the finances to finish Galaxy's End right now. So we'll likely have to look for another loan. And I'll need to convince my family (who are presently self-funding Tiki Games) that there's a large enough audience that would be willing to purchase a downloadable real-time strategy game for the PSP."

So how can you help? "If you feel you would purchase a well-designed and fun real-time strategy game for the PSP near the end of 2009 then I'd appreciate if you can email galaxysend@tikigames.net with a simple 'Finish it' in the subject line."

To read more about the game, check out our Galaxy's End category.

PSP2 concept is far cooler than the reality will ever be

by Jem Alexander { 1 year ago }

Look at that floppy screen. We want it. This PSP2 concept is certainly very pretty, but don't get too excited. We'd be very surprised if this ever exists. We're not sure where the concept images come from, but we found them over at the technology site DVICE. Check out the fold-away screen and the (dual analogue, naturally) controls on the cylindrical body. We're not sure how practical it would be, but it certainly looks great.

There are more images to see over at DVICE. PSP2 may or may not be in development but we'd put money on this not being the final design. The price alone would be incredibly prohibitive (though judging from the PS3, that wouldn't worry Sony). Still, we'd be willing to pay a considerable amount if it really could play Resident Evil 5, as the images suggest.